Fuel briquette



Patented Dec. 9, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENTfQFFiCE- FUEL BnrQUnrr'rE No Drawing. Application filed March 6, 1929, Serial No. 344,914, and in New Zealand. November 30, 1928.

This inventionrelates to the briquetting of coal-dust and other powdered or granular carbon-containing material for use as fuel.

In processes for this purpose hitherto employed the powdered or granular material has been mixed with a proportion of binding material and subjected to great pressure the effect of which, together with the drying or setting properties of the binding material,

have been relied upon to hold the mass together.

In practice however it has been found that briquettes prepared in this manner have proved unsatisfactory inasmuch as they have shown a tendency to disintegrate or deteriorate under the influence of moisture, heat, or other conditions to which they are liable to beexposed, the peculiarities in this respect varying of course according to the nature and proportion of the binding material employed.

Again in many cases the cost of ,manu ture has proved excessive while the briquettes have possessed insufficient mechanical strength to stand the necessary handling when in use. i

It is the object of the present invention to provide a briquette or 'eggette, possessing a high calorific value, havirig a hard, me

chanically strong, outer surface not susceptible to injurious eflt'ects from heat or moisture, and a process for manufacturing the same, the said process being such that it may be carried out without the employment of great mechanical pressure.

In carrying this object into effect according to the present invention a briquette, or eggette, composed of a mixture of coal-dust or other powdered or granular carbon-con- 40 taining material and a binding material the latter being of a carbonaceous nature, is treated by subjecting such briquette for a short period, as say for example ten to twenty-minutes, to a high degree of temperature such for example as 500 to 700 centigrade.

This treatment has the effect of drawing portion of the binding material from the interior towards the surface where it becomes carbonized by the said heat thereby forming a hard compact crust effectively enclosing and protecting the internal portion which, owing to the said partial withdrawal of the binding material and the baking effect produced by the heating, is brought to the condition of a practically solid substance.

In the preferred form of the invention the i said carbonaceous binding material consists of molasses constituting a by-product of the sugar industry or the whole molasses and sugar-bearing extract obtained from sugarcane or beet.

If desired however oil, tar, or other suit able carbonaceoussubstance may be employed as the binding material in lieu of the molasses I or extract above mentioned.

In practice the binding material, pref-* erab'ly in a heated condition, is mixed with the powdered or granular material in suitable proportions, such for instance as 5 parts of binding material to 100 parts of powderedfio or granular material, the same may be diluted with about an equal volume of water, satisfactory results having been obtained by employing slack coal one hundred tons, molasses five tons, water three and two-thirds r'm tons. V

This mixing is conveniently accomplished by feeding the said ingredients together into a pug-mill.

The mixture is delivered by the mill in: plastic form and is then cut or moulded into briquettes or eggettes of the desired size, and shape which are then subjected to the aforementioned heating treatment after which they are preferably cooled as by subjecting' them to a blast of air or by the application of water.

lVe claim:

1. Fuel briquettes including the follow- In testimony whereof We. have hereunto aflixed our signatures.

JAMES STEWART FORD. g

, FR DE ICK MU MQ. 

